This blog is dedicated to sharing the concept that our hands are essential to learning- that we engage the world and its wonders, sensing and creating primarily through the agency of our hands. We abandon our children to education in boredom and intellectual escapism by failing to engage their hands in learning and making.

Monday, October 10, 2016

laying things out.

This morning the contractor building the new Eureka Springs School of the Arts wood shop is beginning to pour the floor of the building, including the 2 in. recess above which a resilient floor will be built. The idea of the resilient floor is to provide cushion underfoot for those of us who may be old enough to suffer from foot, knee, back or hip problems or any combination thereof, and also to provide a place to run conduit for electrical supply that will not have to be mounted on the ceiling with suspended wiring.

When I proposed the idea, it was a head scratcher at first, as the architect and builder wondered about how much the idea would add to the cost. For this plan to work, a central conduit will be brought into the center of the room from which electrical power can be branched to clusters of tools.

The sketch of tool layout shown above was very preliminary, done prior to the architect's design.

Yesterday we held a fundraiser for the Clear Spring School scholarship program, and I also attended a fundraiser to battle the hog farm wrongfully in operation in the headwaters of the Buffalo National River. The Department of Interior has legal authority to protect the quality of its waters, but the state agencies, driven largely by the antiquated insistence that corporations can do no wrong, stand in the way of the river's preservation.

In the woodshop this afternoon, I will have students grades 1-6.

Make, fix, create, and extend to others an understanding that they may also learn likewise.

1 comment:

Good plan. Our old high school wood shop has both the wiring and dust collection run under a fir floor. The shop seems less cluttered and the floor is easier on the knees and feet. An additional benefit is that dropped tools are more likely to survive.

About Me

I have been a self-employed woodworker in Eureka Springs, Arkansas since 1976. I live with my wife Jean on a wooded hillside overlooking our beautiful historic community.
In addition to work in my wood shop, I teach children at the Clear Spring School in a program called "The Wisdom of the Hands." My 10th and 11th books, Tiny Boxes by Taunton Press and Making Classic Toys that Teach were published in November 2016. I also write for Fine Woodworking and other woodworking magazines.
My resume can be downloaded at
www.dougstowe.com/resume.doc